In October 2015, I traveled to Budapest, Hungary as part of a Habitat Global Village team. My team worked on the future home of Gabor, a homeless Hungarian man. Each day of our trip, Gabor rode his bicycle to our construction site from his cardboard shanty. Upon his arrival, he donned his hard hat, picked up a hammer and joined us in building. At the end of each work day, Gabor addressed our team with the four English words that he knew: “Thank you very much!”
On our third work day, as I stood on a ladder, applying globs of concrete mix to a stone wall so that an interior door could be installed, Gabor entered the room. With the help of an interpreter he struck up a conversation. He told me of his hopes to paint the room the color of espresso and though I could not understand his words, the twinkle in his eye revealed his excitement. He beamed with pride as he pointed to a wood burning stove in the corner of the room, and explained that he selected it for its dual functionality as heater and stove. This was a profound moment for me, to hear this man’s dreams for his home and to know that I was contributing to making those dreams a reality.
Gabor moved in to his home a few short months after my teams’ return home. Thanks to Habitat’s Global Village program, a man who used to sleep on the streets, now sleeps in a warm bed, sipping tea from a kettle that was heated on his wood burning stove. I love that this Global Village trip gave me the opportunity to step in to Gabor’s world and make his story part of my own.
At Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity we pride ourselves on the knowledge that our local work carries a global impact. We want to provide others with the opportunity to experience the work that Habitat is doing in other parts of the world, so from May 20th – May 28th, 2017 Pikes Peak Habitat will be leading a team to Trinidad and Tobago to partner with a family to build their future home.
We are still accepting participants, but space is limited. If you love to travel, or even if you’ve never left the country, this trip is designed to accommodate all travel levels. Make a global impact by joining us! Registrations and trip deposit must be submitted no later than Friday March 17, 2017. Email me for details: caitlin@pikespeakhabitat.org.
